Client Success: Effective defense against a consultant’s claim for commission.

The Court of Appeal in Warsaw ruled that in the case of stipulating commission remuneration in a mandate contract dependent on the occurrence of a specific result (achieving the goal), the plaintiff is obliged to prove not only the occurrence of this result, but also the performance of the activities they committed to perform.

The mandate contract in the subject dispute concerned cooperation in preparing a tender offer for construction work. In case of winning the tender and concluding the contract, the plaintiff was entitled to demand payment of commission. The client’s victory in the tender was not in doubt, however, the plaintiff was unable to demonstrate how they contributed to this victory. In this situation, the court accepted the Law Firm’s argumentation that the lack of performance should result in dismissal of the lawsuit. The favorable judgment protected the Client from having to pay 2 million PLN. The Client – a large construction company – was represented in this dispute by legal counsel Jan Sakławski – partner of the Law Firm.